Beyoncé as a Metaphor for Amala Tó Gbona Feli Feli

 

Beyonce and Amala; my favourite things in the world.

This post has been in the drafts for quite some time, and what better time to make this post than tonight? The eve of the 20th anniversary of the legendary B’Day album?

Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter is unarguably the greatest singer and performer in the world, and eating amala—the tó gbona feli feli kind—is the most pleasurable gastronomic experience in the world.

In this essay, I will be comparing these two greatest entities in their respective fields and proving to you, through rigorous research and absolutely no peer review whatsoever, that Beyoncé kinda equals amala in representing excellence, culture and the things I love the most.

1.

For four times in a row, Beyoncé has come up as the top artist in my YouTube Music Recap.

I like her music a lot, almost as much as I love amala.

She is unarguably one of the greatest vocalists alive in this generation, so her music leaves me mostly in awe.

Like, how can a voice do that? <Read in a high-pitched voice of enquiry.>

Then her range?

The versatility?

How there is no genre that properly defines her prowess because she does it all, and she does it all pretty well? And how one minute you are listening to the Lemonade album and feeling her grief, then the Renaissance album and you are feeling the groove, and then the self-titled album and you are feeling yourself?

The range is wide. She is brilliant.

The same way I am in awe when I pinch a ball of amala from the rest of its body and roll it between my fingers and feel the softness softly caress the pads of my fingers.

How can a swallow do that?<Read in same high-pitched voice of enquiry.>

I am in awe of Beyoncé's vocal dexterity in the same way I am in awe of amala's gentle softness.

2.

Most of the time, when I tell someone I've just met that I really like Beyoncé, they make fun of it and start going on about how they prefer Rihanna or Taylor Swift or some other who-ever-the-hell...

And it is usually infuriating because, did I ask??

<Okay, to be honest, sometimes I do, but that is besides the point.>

Beyonce being a cool DGAF queen

Side story.

There was this one person though who went to listen to a bunch of songs from her discography and then curated a playlist of her songs he thought were more my style, and then he sent it to me. It was a really sweet gesture. If he wasn't a cunning Yoruba man, I'd have asked for his hand in marriage.

Anyway.

People do the same thing when I tell them that I like amala too.

How can you like amala? It is black <notice how Beyonce is a black woman too?>.

It looks funny.

Pounded yam is better.

Blah blah blah.

Racist, colourist nonsense from people that haven't even tried to taste it before.

And that is what I find interesting.

People are often very eager to tell you that they don't like something, especially when they don't understand why you like it.

And so, Beyoncé and amala have something in common: people who don't get them are often very eager to explain why you shouldn't like them either.

Perhaps they are both acquired tastes.

Or perhaps some people simply lack taste.

I will let you decide.

3.

One of the things I love about Beyoncé is how much she documents her process and how she is not exactly trying to sell a microwave dream. She shows what goes down behind the scenes and shares her struggles and how she gets around getting the job done.

It reminds me of amala.

How, before it becomes the perfect ball of chocolate delight, it is first discarded yam peels, dried, then pounded and cooked.

Both products of a rigorous preparation process.

There is something beautiful about seeing what goes into making something excellent.The finished product may look effortless, but the process is anything but, and perhaps that is another reason why Beyoncé and amala belong in the same conversation. The excellence is in the preparation.

4.

The first time I watched Beyoncé's Homecoming, I clutched my chest and knew I was going to maybe watch it a thousand times over. I was so impressed by her dedication to excellence and how hard she pushed herself, and then it just made sense why there were so many conspiracy theories about her well because honestly, how does a human being do all that singing and choreography after having not one, but two babies, without for one second dropping the quality of the show's entertainment?

The intelligence. The mastery. The storytelling. The sentiment behind the performances. The cultural impact.

Whew.

Then she did it again at the Renaissance World Tour...

And again at the Cowboy Carter Tour.

In fact she does it at every show every time she has to perform. Her dedication to delivering a masterpiece performance shows how much she respects the people that love and support her and there is a take-away from there somewhere.

Peak entertainment always. From the videos I watch from my house at least.

<Meanwhile, I hope Beyoncé knows she absolutely cannot retire yet. I haven't gotten to watch her perform live yet.>

And that is another thing Beyoncé and amala have in common:

They both understand the importance of showing up and showing out.

Amala, especially the tó gbona feli feli type, does not believe in underperforming.

At birthday parties? There.

Funeral parties? Present.

Weddings? Clocked in.

Bukas? Working overtime.

And guess what gets sold out first<or after jollof rice??>

Amalaaa.

Because amala takes its performance duties very seriously.

Just like Beyoncé.

5.

Representation is really important to me.

And to Beyoncé.

And to amala.

Beyoncé reps her hometown and her people and her city so passionately, it is inspiring.

If anything, she inspires me to ‘carry my culture on my head’. To embrace where I am from and feel proud of it and integrate my roots into my identity.

I especially love how she platforms women and makes them important parts of her production processes. She has, in a way, evolved into a feminist icon that represents freedom and passion and empowering sexiness.

In the same way, amala just might be the poster child for Yoruba culture.

They both evoke strong cultural awareness. They both make you think about where they come from. They both carry their culture loudly and they both somehow manage to say, “Yes, this is where I am from. And?”. I love that.

6.

There is also something to be said about the fact that neither Beyoncé nor amala is supposed to be consumed carelessly. You have to pay attention. You HAVE to appreciate the details. With Beyoncé, you cannot just listen to a song and move on. Sometimes you need to sit down and think about the lyrics, the production, the vocals, the choreography, the costumes, the references, the visual storytelling. There is always something going on.

Amala is the same.

You cannot just eat amala. You have to experience amala. You have to eat it with reverence. You have to pinch it properly<no for real, you can’t do it the way you do the others, your palm would be sticky>.

And, most importantly, the amala must be veryyy hot.

I mean tó gbona feli feli.

At this point, the evidence is overwhelming.

Beyoncé kinda = Amala.

7.

Perhaps the most compelling evidence, however, is that both Beyoncé and amala have a very specific ability to make people irrationally passionate.

I do not necessarily indulge in stan culture. You would never see me insulting or arguing with strangers on the internet over a celebrity or going too crazy <I could make a blog post though, hehehe>, but I am just a huge fan.

In general, I am a huge fan of powerful women. Women that embody sexiness.Women that do the things they want to do without basing their desires off of what other people would describe as proper or acceptable.

There is something incredibly liberating about watching a woman who knows exactly what she wants, understands her power and is not afraid to take up space with it.

It is part of what I love about Beyoncé. She is unapologetically ‘Beyoncé’ and she has built an entire world around her art, her femininity, her culture, her sexuality, her motherhood, her ambition and her excellence, and she keeps expanding it.

Much like amala, actually hehehe.

Black. Soft. Hot. Beautiful. Delicious. 

So, in conclusion, I hope I have been able to convince you and not confuse you, to hit the nail on the head, to get you to see beyond any reasonable doubt that  Beyoncé and amala are in the same league.

Both are excellent. Both are occasionally misunderstood. Both are capable of making people unnecessarily opinionated. Both require some level of appreciation for the process. Both carry culture with them. Thank you for coming to my TED Talk!

Tell me in the comments, what is your absolute favourite Beyonce song? Or what is your favourite Beyonce album?

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